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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Sorry to hear that mom3gram! It's definitely easy to forget at this stage where - for me at least - learning feels like two steps forward and one and a half step back every week. The good thing is, now that I'm halfway through book 2 I read notes much faster, find the keys much faster, and overall learn faster. You will get back on track in no time!

And I must say that having spent almost 7 months on Alfred's books, I can see now why it doesn't appeal to those who want to play classical music, but it definitely appeals to me. I love the chord approach and I like folk, pop, blues and jazz piano... Right now I'm studying Hava Nagila, which will take a while, but I also started to play an easy arrangement of Cole Porter's So in Love.

And I'm so in love with the piano

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Diana & Wally - Yamaha W110BWMartha Argerich... is an incarnation of the artistic metaphor of the "eternal feminine" that draws us upward. (Sergio Sablich)

Hava Nagila... I kind of learnt the first two pages and a half and then moved on... but I intend to finish it sooner or later. Looks like there are useful things to learn throughout.

I had a chat with a long time player and she emphasized taking everything very slow and devoting time to technique - scales, mainly. I think I will add some Hanon here and there, not too much but maybe just once a week or so.

And although she's been playing an acoustic all her life she liked the touch of my Casio

_________________________
Diana & Wally - Yamaha W110BWMartha Argerich... is an incarnation of the artistic metaphor of the "eternal feminine" that draws us upward. (Sergio Sablich)

Just got to Hava Nagila - seems ok so far. Good thing I know the melody fairly well for some reason it's not on the cd - Since I don't have a teacher I listen to the songs on an mp3 player helps me alot. Will check on you tube for it.

It took me awhile to get Divertimento in D - seemed like the octave change was harder to grasp than it should have been.

All in all I'm satisfied with my progress - altho I have some days that are "stinko" to say the least!My good days are getting better.

I'm learning Black Forest Polka right now - but no, I haven't finished Hava Nagila yet. Olympic Procession I didn't like, but it was good to learn to read all those high notes. And the arpeggiated chords in Farewell to Thee. This huge section on chord inversions was interesting but I want to be done with it so I can move on.

Luckily this chilly, rainy autumn weather is great for the piano!

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Diana & Wally - Yamaha W110BWMartha Argerich... is an incarnation of the artistic metaphor of the "eternal feminine" that draws us upward. (Sergio Sablich)

I am not looking forward to the Olympic Procession either. I had Brewer play it for me last night and I spilled my drink while I was goose stepping around the living room. Perhaps it will come in handy should the boys in jack boots show up, I'll be able to encourage them to continue marching by and leave us alone.

As for Farewell to Thee, I visited Honolulu in 1968 as a 10 year old with my grandparents and my great aunt. Very strange experience indeed; my grandfather was retired military, so we spent time at Fort DeRussy where there were a lot of pretty beat up guys on R&R from Vietnam. My great aunt was quite a character, and from the far off land of New Jersey, and because of her I always think not of Aloha Oe, but of Aloha Oy!

_________________________Ladies and Gentlemen: This is not a competition, merely an exhibition. No wagering please.

Now that I've gotten my "sea legs", or should I say "piano fingers" back (after a brief review of Book 1 and early Book 2), I've begun re-learning several pieces in Book 2 from "House of the Rising Sun" to "Divertimento in D". I started all of them back in December/January, blew through them too fast, didn't really learn them well, and dropped out of Book 2. I played around with other method books and some easy classical pieces, and then pretty much slacked off playing altogether and hadn't touched the piano for several months - thus the Book 1 review. I'm happy to say that what I did know came back to me rather quickly, and I will now give these pieces the time and attention that they need.

Gee, it's almost time to start playing Christmas Carols again. Actually, I think that was what distracted me from my Book 2 pieces in the first place. Maybe better hold off on the Christmas stuff until the week before. LOL

Right now I'm struggling with Pomp and Circumstance... Dark Eyes comes a bit easier, but it has quite a few difficult things all together, two parts in both hands, octaves, thumb playing two keys... I'm wondering when I'll be ready to learn the Etude. I'll have to take my time with this section.

_________________________
Diana & Wally - Yamaha W110BWMartha Argerich... is an incarnation of the artistic metaphor of the "eternal feminine" that draws us upward. (Sergio Sablich)

The Olympic Procession has not proceeded here. I've taken the suggestion to think words to the rhythm in my head--so all the triplets have become "horrible" and aiming for the next beat makes it: 'It's pie--horrible pie-horrible pie-horrible pie-yes! Pie! Horrible PIE'

I do think that the polka quite fun to play. I have accidently memorized it in my avoidance of getting down to learning to play Horrible Pie.

The two part writing section looks like 'real' piano music! Do you feel like a real piano player?

_________________________Ladies and Gentlemen: This is not a competition, merely an exhibition. No wagering please.

I do think that the polka quite fun to play. I have accidently memorized it in my avoidance of getting down to learning to play Horrible Pie.

LOL! I also move on and read the next song when the one I'm working on is giving me a hard time. I studied Horrible Pie only until I could read and play slowly the part with the high notes. The polka has an easy, repetitive melody but I just played it through a couple of times and didn't get near to polishing it.

Originally Posted By: malkin

The two part writing section looks like 'real' piano music! Do you feel like a real piano player?

Of course, as soon as you get to that section, your hands start rising high above the keyboard in fancy gestures and real music starts flowing from your fingertips!

_________________________
Diana & Wally - Yamaha W110BWMartha Argerich... is an incarnation of the artistic metaphor of the "eternal feminine" that draws us upward. (Sergio Sablich)

Since you guys were talking about how bad Olympic Procession was, and I couldn't remember whether I had trouble with it or not, I thumbed back through my book and glanced at it, and played a few measures. It's not ringing a bell with me AT ALL, so I assume I must have skipped it. Which isn't surprising - my teacher has chosen to skip a few of the pieces in the book along the way.

You guys are getting close to the Chopin Étude, which is without a doubt my favorite piece in the Alfred's books so far, and the only one that I still play for fun.

I finished up Musetta's Waltz a couple of weeks ago, and am now working on Battle Hymn of the Republic....which is quite a bugger! The dotted eighth and sixteenth note rhythm in the beginning gave me fits for a while, but I've almost got that down. But I still clam up when the time signature changes from 4/4 to 6/8. I just can't quite smooth out the transition.

You guys are getting close to the Chopin Étude, which is without a doubt my favorite piece in the Alfred's books so far, and the only one that I still play for fun.

How long did it take for you to learn it? Even this simple arrangement looks a bit daunting. I saw that the original version of this piece is grade 8 or something like that! So beautiful.

Yeah, you're right, the original looks and sounds insanely difficult!

Well.....I worked on it for a long time, two months or maybe a bit more, but there were extenuating circumstances. When I started on it, our spring recital was looming on the horizon, so I was more focused on polishing my recital piece. Then my teacher took her annual 6 week vacation, so I was left to work on it alone without her input. And, since it's arguably the nicest piece in the book, she wanted me to really get it polished (sometimes, I think she lets me slide by with some of the Alfred's pieces...letting me move on if I've grasped the concept and not requiring me to have it perfect). And we added a lot of rubato as well, which took some time for me to get right. And I'm always doing other stuff along with working on Alfred's, so I sometimes don't fly right through some of the pieces.

So, yeah, it took quite a bit longer than the "normal" Alfred's piece for me. But I don't remember ever wanting to throw the book across the room like some of the Alfred's pieces do to me

sometimes, I think she lets me slide by with some of the Alfred's pieces...letting me move on if I've grasped the concept and not requiring me to have it perfect

This is good to hear, because I do the same! Now I find that I learn some pieces faster, but the polishing part always takes more than I wish, and it doesn't seem to be always worth it. I keep returning to the pieces I like best anyway, as a warm-up or cool-down, so they get polished eventually.

_________________________
Diana & Wally - Yamaha W110BWMartha Argerich... is an incarnation of the artistic metaphor of the "eternal feminine" that draws us upward. (Sergio Sablich)

You guys are getting close to the Chopin Étude, which is without a doubt my favorite piece in the Alfred's books so far, and the only one that I still play for fun.

How long did it take for you to learn it? Even this simple arrangement looks a bit daunting. I saw that the original version of this piece is grade 8 or something like that! So beautiful.

As many have said before, you're really never 'done' with a piece. Etude is worth keeping at--I started that piece a year and half ago and am still polishing it. I recently printed out a copy of the original and have been looking at it. The middle part is *way too difficult* for me. The first part is merely *too difficult* for me. But, still, I will work my way up to it one of these days.

Don't discount using the Alfred adaptations that you enjoy and learn to play to a certain level of skill as jumping off points for going to a more complex version of the original, or the original itself. It's a "challenge," but a good kind of challenge, IMO.

I am a new member from Denmark, so please forgive me if my english is not perfect. I started on a cheap CASIO 6 months ago. I am now practicing "Waves of the Danube" in Alfreds all in one course book 2.

That doesn't mean that I have the other pieces before that completely under the belt. For example, I find "La Bamba" REALLY difficult.

I keep practicing it every session (I'm a self learner by the way), but somehow I find it much more difficult than the other pieces. How is your experience?

P.S. I started out half a year ago on my cheap CASIO Keyboard, just to see if this was something for me. It is. so today I ordered a Roland HP505. I'll get it in the middle of next week. OOOOH I can't wait!!!!

Hi, cfrederi! It sounds like you are doing really well. I started on a cheap CASIO keyboard too, and now have a decent digital. Yes, La Bamba was really difficult. I gave up on it, but plan to come back to it eventually, just to prove to myself that I can do it. I'm a self-learner too, but MUCH slower than you. It took me about 2 years just to get through Book 1, and I've been in and out of Book 2 for a long time too. I've gotten up to Waves of the Danube also, but don't really have all the prior pieces completely under my belt either. That's why I keep going back again to ones that I never learned properly every time I hit a wall. I'm so impressed that you have gotten so far in such a short period of time self learning. Congratulations, and I hope you enjoy your new piano.

My teacher warned me that many students struggle with La Bamba. I grew up hearing a lot of Spanish influenced music, so I kind of like it in general.

When I first got to La Bamba, I had fun afternoon listening to a bunch of versions of it on youtube. Some I liked, some made me laugh, and some I didn't even listen to all the way through. I think it really helped and it was entertaining anyway. If you look (way back) toward the beginning of this this thread there are recordings of our Alfred pieces--listening to those while looking at the music seemed helpful to me too.

Congratulations on your new Roland! And hey! You won the Nobel Prize too!

_________________________Ladies and Gentlemen: This is not a competition, merely an exhibition. No wagering please.